Me = teacher

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Magmar: I'd appreciate your help. I haven't thought about getting myself teacher education too much. I'm afraid I would have to move to a bigger town like Oulu or even Helsinki or something if I wanted to study education science. I'm happy with my current salary and studying at a school how to teach sounds like a pain right now.

Spanish = fun. Like in Finnish language, the verbs conjugate so that there's no need for showing the subject in the sentences. However, I didn't take the course this year because I want to concentrate on Japanese. I am going to study just English in the same institute where I teach Japanese.

Dark Scizor: Hm, you sound like you have kept an eye on me for some time, that's cool. According to my 'friends', I was too old for Pokemon already back then. If someone wants to discuss that post in General Discussion, heh.

I've chosen 'Japanin kielen alkeet' the first Japanese study book I ever read through to be the 'offical' course book. I just read a review on it (7 years too late) from a Finnish Japanese pop culture magazine and it said the book doesn't suit for self-studying. Oh well. And more progress, I received a text message from my English teacher who works at the institute office the day before yesterday and she said there are 10 students so far and the course will be there probably.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Here's something shazza asked for in Questions Only. My favourite web dictionaries.

Finnplace index
A good Finnish-English-Finnish dictionary. Is down often though.

kaannos.com
A multi-language dictionary originated from Finland I tihnk.

Jim Breen's WWWJDIC
A very good Japanese dictionary, better than any book I've read.

I received new info from the English teacher last Tuesday and she said there are 13 students now and she gave me a list of them and other papers I need. The first lesson is going to be exciting, of course. Perhaps I'll first introduce myself and ask the students introduce themselves, like why they want to learn Japanese and what their experiences are on it. Then I plan to teach the students how to write their names and make them write name cards, I have a terrible face-name-memory. We'll go through the pronunciation differences between Finnish and Japanese and the first chapter in the book and I'll teach some kanji meaning and etymology, too. I'll perhaps even take Full Metal Alchemist opening song Melissa or the outro Vivid from Final Fantasy Unlimited and give them a look at the lyrics if I have time. What do you guys think of my plan?

[mr_pikachu]

Not a bad idea. A lot of them will probably want to learn Japanese because of anime, after all. Of course, you do run the risk of it backfiring, especially if you pick a song that otaku are certain to know already. You know the culture better than I do, so definitely use your judgment if you decide on including that in your first lesson.

Oh, and take it from someone who's been there (and is still there)... if you happen to get a belligerent class, don't back down. Just lay down the law. I'd say you've got a 99% chance of getting a good class of students who want to participate, especially considering the subject you're teaching. But if you have that one group of students who talk back, sleep in class, and so on, then you'll want to be prepared. If nothing else, you'll be pleasantly surprised when you don't have those problems.

(On a side note, my personal opinion is that it's okay to show some weakness, at least in terms of demonstrating that you're human. However, I'd strongly advise against indicating in any way that you're not perfectly qualified in the subject matter. If you do, you're inviting loads of unwarranted criticism and apathy. Don't give them a reason to doubt your knowledge.)

[Dark Scizor]

Dark Scizor: Hm, you sound like you have kept an eye on me for some time, that's cool. According to my 'friends', I was too old for Pokemon already back then. If someone wants to discuss that post in General Discussion, heh.

Yeah, I've been stalking you since day 1.

Seriously, your username is just one of the ones that I can always remember whenever I come here...don't know why.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Dark Scizor: My name is a magic word. I recite it often inside my head.

Perhaps it's time for a little report.

On the third class I made the students write words in hiragana on blackboard for the first time and showed them a version of VIVID with my subtitles. I liked it very much how the lesson went, although I had to point out some mistakes next time. The fourth lesson was as good as the third one. I asked for their favorite animes, mangas, games and movies and they didn't laugh at mine. I showed them an AMV where I had combinated Blind Guardian's 'Valhalla' and the second Pokemon movie.

The day before yesterday, was the last lesson before the autumn break. One thing that sticked in my mind after it was that one student criticized my methods a little. He proposed that I shouldn't teach the character history like I did, I should only deal with the 'primitives' of the kanjis. I hadn't heard the word 'primitive' before when talking about characters but we figured out that it meant the parts of the character, one of them I am accustomed to call a radical. But I asked the other students do they agree and they said I should continue as I had done so I took it as a vote and decided not to change my style.

Oh yes, and it seems nobody has quitted yet, I have only two or three people absent each time, and they aren't the same people every time.

One thing I must think about is whether or not I'll teach a follow-up course next spring. I must have time, knowledge and energy to make it happen.